Nut-cracker



(No Model.) I I E B. BENHAM &- U. R. WATBOUS.

. YNUT CRAGKER. I i No. 322,240. Patentd July 14, 1885.

N. Fl-JERS. mum-mm Wahinllnn. D. (1

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 1'

ELIJAH B. BENHAM, OF GROTON, AND CHARLES R. WATROUS, OF LEDYARD, CONNECTICUT; SAID BENHAM ASSIGNOR TO SAMUEL A. WHIPPLE AND SILAS S. WHIPPLE, OF LEDYARD, CONNECTICUT.

NUT-CRACKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 322,240, dated July 14, 1885.

Application filed February 18, 1885. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, ELIJAH B. BENHAM, of Groton, NewLonclon county, in the State of Connecticut, and CHARLES R.-WATROUS,

of Ledyard, in the county and State aforesaid, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in N ut-Crackers, of which the following is a specification.

Our improved nut-cracker applies the force of the hand at a great mechanical advantage or purchase and in an oblique direction, so as to throw the crushing-surfaces past each other. The surfaces between which the nut is compressed are peculiarly arranged to fa- I 5 cilitate the adaptation of the instrument to nuts of various sizes. The arrangement allows the repetition of compression by shifting the nut each time into a narrower portion of the space between the jaws.

The accompanying drawings form a part of the specification, and represent what we consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan view. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 00 w in Figs. 1 and 2, looking in the direction of the arrow.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where they occur.

A is the body, and A the jaw thereon. A is the handle. These parts A A A are a single malleable-iron casting. I

B is the counter-lever, and B the counter- 5 jaw. B and B are a single malleable-iron casting. It turns on a rivet, b, inserted in the body A at the point represented.

C is a spring of flat steel, clamped in a thin recess produced by sawing or otherwise in 0 the jaw A, and acting on the counter-lever B to depress it.

D is the operating-lever. It turns on an axis formed by a pivot, d, cast on its side and engaged in a socket in the body A at the 5 point indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

This operating-lever D acts on the counterlever-B at the point B*. The counter-lever B is formed with a ridge on its edge, which is engaged by a lip, A, on the body, so that it is steadied in its up and down motion as it is raisedby the operating-lever D,aeting at the point B*, and is pressed down by the spring C.

The surfaces of the jaws A and B, which are presented toward each other, are wide and ridged, so as to prevent the slipping of the nuts to be cracked as they are successively introduced and compressed between them. The working-faces are each nearly plane. They are inclined, as shown, in both directions-that is to say, in the vertical direction they diverge upward, and in the horizontal direction they diverge from the right toward the left.

The whole constitutes a small and CODVGII- iently portable implement, bringing great power to bear on the nut. We attach importance to the position of the working-faces of the jaws, and particularly to the motion. The pivot b, on which the counter-lever B B the handles that said faces change their positions relatively to each other, and thus change the point of contact on the nut as the handles D A are forced together.

Modifications may be made in the forms and proportions. Instead of the peculiar pivot d, an ordinary rivet may be inserted in the body. We prefer the construction shown, as economical in first cost and. peculiarly strong and reliable. I

The spring C may be confined in the sawkerf, in which it is set'by one or more blows on a set properly applied adjacent to the kerf while the spring is held in position.

The surfaces may be left unfinished orv may be variously coated or decorated. They may be polished, plated with nickel or other metal, or japanned.

We claim as our invention-- 1. In a nut-cracker, the combination, with the jaw A A A and the lever B, pivoted at b and carrying jaw B, of the operating-lever D, all arranged to serve as set forth.

2. In a nut-cracker, the jaws A 13, having 6th day of February, 1885, in the presence of working-faces inclined and corrugated in two two subscribing witnesses. directions, and the lever B, pivoted at b to U E B. BENI-IAM. the body and havln shoulder 13* and the D 5 handle D: all -cornbine d and operating as and CHARLES TWAILUOUS' for the purposes set forth. Vitnesses:

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set HENRY G. BEEBE, Jr.,

our hands at Mvstic River Connecticut this \VM. H. POTTER. 

